Wolverines slash Conway ChristianHECTOR — The Western Yell County Wolverines topped the Conway Christian Eagles 74-64 in the first round of the 2A-4-East District Tournament Thursday inside the Hector Multi-Purpose Building. Western Yell County led 23-6 after the first quarter and widened the score to 36-17 at halftime. After the third quarter, the Wolverines had a commanding 51-33. Western Yell County was led in scoring by Chris Thygesen with 23 points. Trent Cobb scored 17 ...

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Lady Warriors defeat AtkinsPARIS — The Atkins Lady Red Devils were defeated by the Lamar Lady Warriors 54-33 on Thursday in the 3A-4 District Tournament. “Lamar is a very, very good senior-laden squad and they got off to a great start and we just never recovered. We just didn’t bring the intensity that we needed to compete with a quality team. We are learning what it takes to play at this time of year, compared to a team that is used to playing and understands what it t...

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Courier Sports StaffThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Tigers shoot past Wonder BoysADA, Okla. — The Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys basketball team (12-13, 8-9 Great American Conference) was unable to overcome the hot shooting of East Central (17-8, 11-6 GAC) as the Tigers shot 62 percent from the floor in the second half to push to a 78-54 win over the Wonder Boys on Thursday at the Kerr Activities Center. Tech controlled the momentum in the early going as Gary Gaskins scored the first six points, pushing the Wonder Boys out to a...

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Golden Suns softball remains undefeatedNationally 18th-ranked Arkansas Tech University remained undefeated during the 2015 softball season with a doubleheader sweep of Pittsburg State University at the Chartwells Women’s Sports Complex in Russellville on Thursday. The Golden Suns (6-0) are scheduled to take on Fort Hays State University for a twin bill in Hays, Kan., on Wednesday. Their next home games are set for Friday and Saturday against East Central University. Game One: Tech ...

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Wildcats advance in districtHECTOR — If the Academics Plus Charter Academy Falcons didn’t know Tanner Gaines and Rustin Hays before their 2A-4-East District game against the Hector Wildcats on Tuesday — they certainly know them now. Gaines scored 23 points against the Falcons, while Hays scored 20 — including two unanswered slam dunks in the second quarter that sent shock waves through the Hector High School student section. “Gaines is a wrecking ball,” Wildcats head coa...

Lady Pirates slide past Dardanelle 49-40DARDANELLE – The Dover Lady Pirates withstood a late Dardanelle rally Thursday to take a 49-40 victory over the Lady Sand Lizards in the opening round of the 4A-4 District Tournament at Dardanelle. The Lady Sand Lizards trimmed a 10-point fourth quarter deficit to three at 38-35 with 2:40 left but were able to get no closer as the Lady Pirates held on for the victory. The Lady Sand Lizards led by as many as nine early in the first half before ...

Pirates advance with win over ClintonDARDANELLE – The Dover Pirates lived to fight another day with a 52-41 victory over the Clinton Yellow Jackets Thursday in the opening round of the 4A-4 District Tournament at Dardanelle. Clinton pulled within 29-23 early in the third quarter before Dover used a 9-0 run to take control of the contest. The Pirates lived by the 3-pointer in the first half as Dover scored 15 of its 25 first-half points from deep, including 12 straight throughout ...

Williamson honored at Hogs gameFAYETTEVILLE (AP) — Former Final Four Most Outstanding Player for the Arkansas Razorbacks Corliss Williamson was honored at halftime of the Hog's win over the Missouri Tigers. Flanked by his family, former teammates and former coach, Nolan Richardson, the current Sacramento Kings assistant coach — who led Arkansas to the Razorbacks only national title in 1994 — had a banner with his name and No. 34 hung inside Bud Walton Arena. After the win, ...

Solid debut earns Hill GAC Player of the WeekCollecting a .615 average with three home runs and seven RBIs over the first four games of her Arkansas Tech career, Kambri Hill was named the Great American Conference softball player of the week. The junior started her time in a Golden Suns uniform strong at last weekend’s 8-State Classic in Bentonville, Arkansas, picking up eight hits in 13 at-bats. In the opener Friday against Northwest Missouri State, she popped three hits, including a wa...

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Golden Suns climb to No. 20 in National PollCollecting two more wins to bump its win streak to four games, the Arkansas Tech women’s basketball team continues to move up in the national rankings, bumping four spots to No. 20 in the USA Today Coaches poll released Tuesday. The Golden Suns (19-3, 14-2 Great American Conference) earned home victories over Northwestern Oklahoma (61-51) and Southern Nazarene (78-60) last weekend, holding the lead nearly the entire way to earn season sweeps o...

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Dardanelle set to host 4A-4 DistrictDARDANELLE — The Sand Lizards and Lady Sand Lizards are happy to host the 4A-4 District Tournament today inside Sand Lizard Gymnasium. Having their student section in full attendance and keep game routines as normal as possible are important when fighting for an appearance in the Class 4A-North Regional Tournament. Even though Dover, Pottsville and Subiaco are all expected to travel well, Sand Lizards head coach Russell Sturdivant said playing...

Junior Lady Rebels win districtThe Johnson County Junior Lady Rebels went 10-0 in the 2A-4 and 7-0 on their home court to earn their fourth consecutive 2A-4 Conference title and first 2A-4 West District title after Saturday’s 36-15 win over the Mountainburg Junior Lady Rattlers. “I am very proud of this group,” Westside head coach Steve Golden said. “They dominated a tough conference all year and were even more dominant in their three district games.” The Junior Lady Rebels...

Cyclones wrestle strong at conference meetSEARCY — The Russellville Cyclones wrestling team competed in the Central Conference Wrestling Meet on Valentines Day in Searcy and came away with two medalists. Freshman Logan Sloss won the 132-weight division, while junior Michael Ritchie placed third in the 126-pound division. “Overall, performance-wise, I felt we did pretty well,” Cyclones head wrestling coach Adrian Meredith said. “Everyone we thought would medal, did except one. James Ph...

Cyclone history: coach Paul PughSunday marked the 87th birthday anniversary of former Russellville athletic director and head football coach Paul Pugh. Pugh was one of 15 children. He was born in Rover and graduated from Russellville High School in 1946. Pugh played football for former Cyclones head football coach Wallace Bailey and was named to the 1945 Arkansas All-State football team as a tackle and selected to Russellville High School (RHS) Athletic Hall of Fame upon gra...

Wonder Boys baseball swept at OBUARKADELPHIA — Kris Ayers went 4-for-4 in the opener with a pair of RBIs, but the Arkansas Tech Wonder Boys baseball team (4-7, 0-3 Great American Conference) was unable to overcome timely hitting by Ouachita Baptist (6-4, 3-0) in a doubleheader sweep by the Tigers, falling 10-8 and 4-1 on Saturday at Rab Rodgers Field. The Tigers did the lion’s share of work in the first two innings, putting eight runs across in the first two innings and sendi...

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Balogun earns weekly GAC honorArkansas Tech University’s Mike Balogun was named Great American Conference men’s basketball co-player of the week by the league office in Russellville on Monday, Feb. 16. Balogun, a senior guard from Staten Island, N.Y., averaged 19.5 points per game while leading the Wonder Boys to a pair of victories last week. He matched his season high with 25 points in an 83-63 win over Northwestern Oklahoma State University on Thursday. Two days later, ...

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Lady Little Johns set record in 107-99 winDANVILLE — It looks like the score from an NBA shootout — but it’s not. The Danville Lady Little Johns netted a record-breaking 107-99 double-overtime win over the Guy-Perkins Lady Thunderbirds. The win broke the school record for most points scored in a game. According to the Arkansas Activities Association (AAA), the score placed third in the state for most points scored in a single contest. The combined score of 206 placed second. Additiona...